Upon the personal initiative of H.E. Felix Houphouët Boigny, first President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, MOWCA was established as an intergovernmental organization on 7 May 1975, through the Abidjan Maritime Transport Charter, under the designation of MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE OF WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICAN STATES ON MARITIME TRANSPORT (MINCOMAR). It has twenty-five (25) member States among which twenty (20) coastal States and five (5) landlocked. The organization has been headed since its inception by six (6) Secretaries General, including the current one from November 2021, Ambassador Dr. PAUL ADALIKWU from Nigeria.